Kiss Me in the Rain
by Starsearcher
Summary: 3 vignettes about a first kiss and the road later on..


  
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Title: Kiss Me in the Rain   
Author: Starsearcher   
E-Mail: Starsearcher519@hotmail.com   
Rating: PG   
Category: romance (first kiss challenge and Tu/S as kids challenge)   
Codes: Tu/S   
Summary: 3 short vignettes about a first kiss and the road later   
Disclaimer: Paramount owns all. I own nothing, not even the clothes on my back. Don't sue me! (unless you want my lint collection, which is rather extensive by the way, and quite the find really…I'd be willing to trade for, oh say, 10 bars of gold? No? All right, I'll be generous, 5? But really…I digress….on with the fanfic!   
  
***Author's note: the song I use is called "Kiss me in the rain" by Eric Sierka (it's NOT the Barbara streisand one)   
  
  
PART ONE:   
  
  
He gave a sigh, the third one straight in the past few minutes. Kicking the dirt on the ground, he walked through the park, barefoot. Above him, the sky had turned a dull shade of gray, the threatening clouds moving closer.   
  
He could still feel his heart beating from the run a few hours ago. When he had ran out of that church, ran out on the coffin that bore the still form of his grandfather. He couldn't deal with that.   
  
Groaning, Trip Tucker ran a hand through his sandy hair, his features turned upwards toward the sky.   
  
"I'm gonna get up there one day, grandpa..." he whispered, his arms spread slightly as he gazed upward. "I'm gonna build those ships you always talked about. I'm gonna fly 'em too."   
  
He was twelve, lanky as he had yet to adjust to his growing body. He kicked the ground again, this time stubbing his toe slightly on a few stones. Sighing again, he moved even further down the park.   
  
The first drops of rain began to fall on his head, and at first, he savored them. Tilting his head back, he opened his mouth and enjoyed the feeling of the cool water hitting his face.   
  
But the clouds began to get darker, and the rain harder. Soon, he knew that he would have to find shelter. Stupid of him not to bring an umbrella, but there was nothing he could do about it. He ran along the path, looking for some sort of suitable shade, and then he spotted someone else running as well.   
  
It was a girl, a young girl who couldn't be any more than eight or nine years old. She was wearing a white dress, slightly muddy from the wet grass, and she had found her way to a nearby tree, where she was now resting. Trip gave a sigh of relief and ran towards her, making it under the canopy of leaves in a few moments. Slightly out of breath, he nodded to her and leaned against the trunk.   
  
She smiled at him, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she sat down on the grass, her back to him as she watched the rain splash to the ground around them.   
  
_I remember the day I met her   
The skies opened up   
Neither one had an umbrella   
So we ran beneath a tree_   
  
After a few moments of silence, the girl looked up at him, her big brown eyes looking into his own light blue ones. He was a little bit surprised at how mature she looked. Those eyes seemed solemn and serious, but the rest of her face lit up then as she gave him another smile. She spoke then.   
  
"I'm Hoshi. What's your name?"   
  
"Charles...but everyone calls me Trip."   
  
"How old are you? I'm almost eight."   
  
"Much older than you, kid. I'm thirteen."   
  
She gave him one of those childish pouts that his little cousins had always annoyed him with. But on her, it seemed to fit. Trip found himself liking her, and he grinned.   
  
"What are you laughing at?" she asked, her ruby lips forming another pout.   
  
"Nothin'."   
  
Hoshi shook her head, as if she didn't believe him.   
  
"What are you doing here, Trip?"   
  
He didn't really want to talk about it. He didn't want to tell some strange little kid about his grandpa's death, about how he had cried like a baby and had ran out of the church because he didn't want to see the body.   
  
But he told her anyway.   
  
And somehow, he felt better.   
  
He couldn't help crying though, and it hurt part of his pride that he was crying in front of some little girl. She would probably laugh at him.   
  
But she didn't.   
  
Her dark eyes seemed a pool of emotion, and somehow, Trip had the sense that of all people, she understood him.   
  
_I looked at her, she looked at me   
And I swear the world stopped spinning   
For a while… when she..._   
  
She stood up then, walking over to where he was leaning. She was much shorter than him, the top of her head barely above his chest. Trip felt a little uneasy, but he didn't say anything. He was far too intrigued by this little girl with the large, solemn eyes.   
  
Standing on tip toe, she leaned up innocently and kissed him gently on the lips. His ears burned red from the contact, but he didn't care then. Somehow, it seemed as if things were better now. As if things would be better.   
  
_Kissed me in the rain   
My emotions flowed like waterfalls, she   
Kissed me in the rain   
I had never felt so glad   
She kissed me in the rain   
I'd have given everything I had   
Just to stay with her that way   
Forever..._   
  
She gave him a little hug, and then walked out from under the shelter of the leaves.   
  
He hadn't noticed that the rain had stopped. He didn't notice it until he heard his mother calling his name, and he found himself alone under the tree, a memory now seared into his mind. A memory of a little dark haired girl. A girl who had listened to him cry. A girl who had heard his fears.   
  
A girl who had given him his first kiss.   
  
*****  
  
****   
PART TWO:   
  
Twenty seven years later, Trip Tucker found himself standing in that same park.   
  
The sound of the church bells was distant in his mind, his shirt blowing gently in the wind. The april rain was creeping up slowing, and Trip smiled softly in memory.   
  
Twenty seven years ago, he had received his first kiss here. Back then, he had only dreamt of reaching the stars. Who could have known that he would not only reach them, but that he would be a part of them?   
  
Trip smiled again, thinking back.   
  
He had done so much since that day. It almost scared him to think about what had already happened. So many laughs, so many tears. Adventures by the minute.   
  
And Enterprise. God, how he would miss that ship. How he missed her already.   
  
The world had seemed so different seven years ago, when he had first stepped onto the bridge of Enterprise. When he had met the crew, his companions, his friends. When he had stared, startled, into those big brown eyes of the girl who had given him his first kiss.   
  
Hoshi.   
  
Time had seemed to pass by so quickly. The shy stares and friendly conversations had turned to something he had only dared to dream of. Something that he knew was more than just a love, but the love. And it still made him shiver to think about it. He still couldn't believe it.   
  
The rain started coming down heavily now, and Trip smiled nostalgically as he leaned against the trunk of the old tree, his six two figure resting comfortably as he waited for her to come. She was running a little late, but he knew that she would be here. She had promised after all.   
  
Moments later, he saw a familiar figure dressed in white running towards him, her hands over her head in an attempt to shield her eyes from the pouring water.   
  
She spotted him almost immediately and smiled, her dark hair damp from the rain. She ran into his open arms, her eyes sparkling.   
  
"Hey," she whispered, her voice slightly husky.   
  
"Hey yourself," he replied, giving her a kiss. They savored each other's lips for a moment, both of them breathless afterwards, but then Trip pulled away and cleared his throat.   
  
"Hoshi..." he began, looking her square in the eye.   
  
She raised an eyebrow at him, and the corner of her mouth twitched into a small smile.   
  
Trip took a deep breath. There was no doubt in his mind that this was the woman he was going to love forever. His grandpa had always told him that the woman he would marry would be the one who could put up with his jokes and his obsession with engines. Trip almost laughed out loud at his own memory. Grandpa had been right...Hoshi had put up with much more than that.   
  
Much more, indeed. Through everything, through his defeats, his low points, his anger, his pain...she had been there.   
  
And she was still here.   
  
"Hoshi..." he said again, and took her hand. "Darlin'...you know me better than I could know myself, and so you know everything that I feel about you. Everything I want to say, you know already. I've never been that good with words...that's your strength, not mine...but believe me when I say this: the day we first met? That day when you, you gave me that kiss...well, I'd be a liar if I said I fell in love with you at first sight. We were just kids, after all. But darlin'...when you left, I knew then that I wanted to know you better. I wanted to find you somewhere again. And I don't know if I did something good or something like that, but I did. And I can't even begin to describe how glad I am that I found you down that road again.   
  
"Hoshi...it's more than I can ever say to you. Thank you is not enough. I'm a better man to have met you, to have loved you. To love you still. And I guess what I'm really trying to say is this: I don't want to ever stop loving you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to grow old with you...I want to be there with you til the very end."   
  
He paused for a moment, looking into her eyes nervously. He then dropped to one knee, his eyes never leaving hers.   
  
"Marry me?"   
  
_On another rainy day she told me   
"Baby I have never loved someone   
The way that I love you"   
So I took her by the hand   
And I said, baby, understand   
And that day I became her man   
Forever… and she..._   
  
She was kissing him then, her arms wrapped around his neck, her face wet with tears. Trip found his own tears mingling with hers, so glad he was. They stayed like that for some time, wrapped in their own little world underneath the gray clouds and falling water.   
  
_Kissed me in the rain   
My emotions flowed like waterfalls, she   
Kissed me in the rain   
I had never felt so glad   
She kissed me in the rain   
Oh I promised everything I had   
Just to stay with her that way   
Forever...   
_   
*****  
  
****   
PART THREE:   
  
"I do."   
  
Two little words that meant everything to him. Two little words that meant that they would be together forever.   
  
"I do."   
  
_But the problem with forever   
Is it doesn't happen here   
It only steals the things   
We hold most dear_   
  
She was lying in bed, her thin body pale in the soft glow of the lamp. He sat by her, his hands holding hers tightly, the smile on his face forced in order to hide the inner torment of his heart.   
  
_I remember the day she left me   
She said:"Remember the day we met   
In the rain where we first kissed"   
And I tried not to cry_   
  
"I love you, darlin'," he said, whispering her name into her hair as he kissed her cheek. She smiled at him, her face serene. So much had happened, so many lives had changed, but one thing still held true through it all. She loved him.   
  
Even now, Trip had a hard time believing his own luck. Never had he dreamt that his life would be as wonderful and fulfilling as it had been for the past sixty years. Ever since he had first met that raven haired child under his favorite tree. True, he had suffered losses, heartache, and defeat, but the rewards had been so much more. He had seen the birth of not one, but three children. His children. He had watched them grow into men and women he had been proud to walk beside. He had seen them leave home, marry, and give him an eternity of joy. He had seen grandchildren, had played baseball with his youngest grandson, had attempted to braid his little granddaughter's hair, had told countless stories about his adventures to his wide eyed admirers.   
  
And she had been there right beside him, always comforting, always loving, always there.   
  
Trip felt her fingers wipe away the tears on his face, and he looked at her gratefully. Even now, she was the strong one. Even as she stood upon the edge, she was the one supporting him. Trip knew that it was the one special thing about her that few others knew about, that he would never fully understand, and he didn't really want to. Just having her near him was enough. Just feeling that strength was enough.   
  
"What am I going to do without you?" he whispered to her, new tears spilling onto the white sheets.   
  
"You're going to be just fine..." she replied, giving him another smile. She laughed then, her body shaking slightly from effort. "Who'd have thought I'd be the one to say that to you? Remember when you first convinced me to stay? I was so...so scared...but you told me that everyone needed me...so I stayed..."   
  
Trip felt more tears trickle down his face.   
  
"We still do. _I do._ You can't leave us..."   
  
Hoshi gave a small cough and sighed.   
  
_Then just before she closed her eyes   
She smiled one last time   
And said… "I'll still…_   
  
"Hoshi...? Darlin'?"   
  
_Kiss you in the rain   
Every drop that hits your lips is mine   
I'll kiss you in the rain   
Baby please don't look so sad   
I'll kiss you in the rain   
Let your strength be everything we had   
I'll kiss you in the rain   
Forever…."_   
  
The grave was small, delicate, the white stone marker standing out among the thick grass under the shade of the tree. Trip stood there, in front of it, his face frozen in memory. He never wanted to forget, never wanted to leave this place. This tree, this park, held more meaning to him than anything else in his life.   
  
The sky seemed to feel his heart then, and it opened one more time as the cool waters fell from the heavens. Trip stood, shielded by the memory of his love, by the thoughts of his heart, by the veil of leaves that fell around him.   
  
"I still remember it all, Hosh..." he whispered to the earth. "I still remember that first kiss...God...I wish we were there again. I wish we were back there...Hoshi...I want you here, darlin'."   
  
He didn't hear the thunder around him, or the sound of the raindrops falling onto the ground. He was lost in his own thoughts, completely empty, with one thought still going through his mind. It was the same thought he had had that day, sixty years ago.   
  
He stood there for a long time, but he wasn't alone. Memories embraced his heart, and he knew that he would one day meet that little girl again. One day, he could ask her again...   
  
_Kiss me, Kiss me in the rain   
Kiss me, Kiss me in the rain _   
*****  
  



End file.
